Preferring Strawberries Over Diamonds
by nikorudied
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo just finished college and was immediately employed overseas by some loaded family as a live-in tutor. Driven by curiosity, he explores an establishment he later realizes to be the Moulin Rouge. I'm trying to learn writing lemons. pardon me


**Preferring Strawberries over Diamonds**

Kurosaki Ichigo just finished college and was immediately employed overseas by some loaded family as a live-in tutor. Driven by curiosity, he explores an establishment he later realizes to be the famous Moulin Rouge.

Disclaimer: Kubo Tite is the rightful owner of Bleach and its character.

Day one

Yuzu wiped the sweat studded forehead with the back of her hand before it went down past her brows. She was helping her older brother pack his bags.

"I think this is all." The young blonde said, sealing the suitcase with the zipper and locking it with the built in lock. His brother entered the room to find her abandon the suitcase on his bed.

"Thank you, Yuzu." He said as he approached her. She faced him with a resolve to not cry in front of him at least but thinking of him leaving to work abroad was too much for her little fragile heart to handle.

"Brother!" She gasped and lunged at him, wrapping him in a secure embrace by his waist. Ichigo lagged at the unexpected display of affection brought by his younger sister. He buried his nose on the top of her head and wrapped her with his arms.

"Do you really have to go?" She said while shaking her face and burying it deeper in his chest if possible. He felt her tears wet the shirt he was wearing.

"Haven't we talked about it?" He hugged her back, his arms tightened around her comfortingly. "Don't worry, I'll be alright." He released her and she wiped off the tears that had run down her cheeks with his thumb as she forcing a smile on her lips for her brother.

"Ichi-nii." It was Karin leaning on the doorframe, wearing her usual bored look.

"I've got you a cab. If you don't to get late, go downstairs already." She said, her voice fluctuating from the obvious holding back of tears. Ichigo spread his arms to welcome her in a farewell hug that she instantly accepted.

"If I don't get a word with you in a day, I will disown you and break your neck if ever you show yourself again." She threatened half-heartedly.

"Got that." Ichigo gave her a pat on back and released her. Downstairs, Isshin was already seating in the passenger's seat of the cab and had decided to accompany him and see him off at the airport, leaving the two teary eyed, although Karin was holding the tears back while Yuzu was blowing her nose. He waved at them and mouthed a goodbye.

Isshin was cool, even had the mocking smile plastered on his face and both hands in his side pockets.

"See you later, Ichigo." He told him while he watched his eldest head on.

"Yeah." No words were uttered but he knew he'll be missing them nonetheless.

Upon arriving at the airport, he was surprised to find a limousine waiting for him. He was led inside the spacious vehicle by the green haired chauffer and was greeted by a woman who appears to be his new boss' secretary.

"How was your flight, Mr. Kurosaki?" Then again, she was not asking him to answer back with the telltale of his overseas trip.

She had black hair clipped behind her and wore black framed oval glasses. She was formally dressed and her pencil skirt hugged her hips and even formed mind ogling faults whenever she moved. He had to snap off the though as she handed him a cellular phone.

"Don't be surprised. It's only normal to get a new phone in a new country." She said, retreating comfortably across him after he had the phone in hand. "Mr. Kuchiki shall be calling you in a while." As if on cue, the Ichigo's newest phone's ringtone resounded through the car.

_I want nobody nobody bachu!_

_I want nobody nobody bachu!_

_Nobody! Nobod-! _

goes his phone's ringtone.

WHAT THE HELL? Nobody by Wonder Girls. You've got to be kidding me.

"Good Morning Mr. Kurosaki." He said in a deep tone that sent shivers down Ichigo's spine. "This is Kuchiki Byakuya, your employer. I shall be meeting you in an hour and within that do enjoy the ride to the mansion. My secretary, Ise Nanao, the one with you in the car shall aid you through the places in Paris. I shall be the one to discuss your job once you get here." There was a pause and Ichigo hesitated to turn the call off.

"I understand-" He was cut off by Byakuya.

"By the way, don't change your ring tone. That's all." The last statement was followed by the beeping of a disconnected call.

The car stopped, his head leaned forward due to inertia. They had been moving and he had to thank the nice car for not feeling that at all.

"We're here." The window to the chauffer's seat slid down and exposed a green haired lady with a pink line across her Nose Bridge and ending right under each eyes. It was at that time that he had a good view of the chauffer.

"A woman?" he gasped loudly loud enough for the woman to hear him.

"I prefer to be called Nel, thank you. Now if it's your first time around here, you might as well look out in the scenery." She said pointing outside with her thumb towards the window. Outside was the Eiffel tower he only sees in postcards and text books.

The woman across him adjusted her glasses up her face. "We might as well use the time to get you familiar in case you're to get around alone." And so they burned the extra time site seeing, ignoring how much his jet-lag was dizzying him.

Not later, they reached the mansion just in time for lunch. As expected, Byakuya met with him in his study and had explained his work and why he had employed him. He was too worn out already now, he had not got a wink of sleep throughout the journey that all he picked up was the word 'teach' and 'tutor' from the conversation he had with his new boss. God he didn't even get the name of his student.

The moment he was alone in the room and the bed was in a reachable distance, he slumped over the satin sheets of the bed and drifted off to sleep at that instant only to be woken up later by the incredible ring of his phone.

"Hello?" he said in a sleep-obvious voice.

"Remember me?" Ichigo deepened his scowl. Not only was his rest interrupted, at the early hours with his new phone, he's already receiving pick-a-boo prank calls.

"Nel." The voice from the other line said. "Ring a bell?" Of course he remembered her.

"What is it? Wait. How did you get my number?" He clicked the light button of his wrist watch and was reminded to synch it with the current time zone.

"Everyone in the household knows it. Silly. It came from the mansion after all." Ichigo formed an 'O' on his lips knowingly. "Would you like a ride around the night life in Paris?"

"That would be-"

He declined actually. He told her how he was dead tired and if he won't get his most needed rest, he might end up drop dead in front of his employer or worse, he won't be able to meet him in the morning for he had collapsed along the way to his study or to wherever he is when he had called for him.

But the green haired bubbly woman was persistent. A minute later and to his dismay, she got it her way. He was screaming on top of his lungs but was muffled by the helmet she made him wear. That made her step on the gas and increase speed exponentially and he had to resort on hugging her, so much as he did not want much physical contact with her temptress physique, he had to forget that for a while or until his feet touch solid ground again and that is if he gets off from the bike alive and in one piece.

And if he was an ordinary warm blooded man then his mind has run crazy images of this woman right in front of him, his chest practically pressing against her back. She was definitely driving the speedometer needle and Ichigo crazy.

"Don't worry. I got you. Haven't you been on a bike? Geez." Neliel shouted over, competing against the rustle of the wind from their height. Turns out, the woman wasn't just on limos but a goddess of bikes. She was driving the speedometer on fire as the needle point past 120 miles per hour.

"Would you mind slowing down a bit?" He screamed, practically shrieking it out from his body, while he held on tighter her curvaceous body closer.

"Sorry! I like it fast! Wohooo!" The motorbike flew off in a roar.

_Ichigo diaries_

_Day 1: My employer is an ice king. His secretary got me a phone with a ridiculous ring tone. The chauffer is crazy woman and the mansion was unbelievably huge. I wonder if I'll end up alive after this._

They got down on a street full of merry-making. There were casinos, theaters, lavishly decorated restaurants and bars. His eyes drank in the environment he was in. Wearing only a brown worn out sweater over a shirt and jeans, he was obviously not fitting in while the lady with him was sizzling hot in her zip up shiny black tights and matching stiletto ankle high boots. Apparently, she noticed that and had him dragged to a nearby boutique, convincing him it was her treat since it was his first shop stop in Paris.

In a minute, he was out on a brown long sleeve turtle neck that enhances his nicely toned pectorals much to her liking. The worn out coat was replaced by a white double breast trench coat.

"That's much better, isn't it?" She asked, eyeing him from head to toe. She must admit, given the right kind of clothes and good management of certain assets he possesses, Kurosaki Ichigo was hot, that one was even an understatement.

When they got out of the store, everyone was greeting him 'bonjour'. Nel was the one to drag him with his wrist to several stalls and places. It felt like being in a carnival. Everything was bizarre as if it was a dream. He never had experienced such a night.

"Hey. Wait here, I'm getting something, 'kay?" He nodded in response and looked around some more while she disappeared across the bricked road street.

An establishment caught his attention. There was music emanating from the said building. From the looks of it, the place was no doubt a cabaret site. Although there are lots of them in Japan, he had never met a cabaret before. And he never felt like meeting one in his entire life.

Curiosity struck him as he was intrigued by the numerous men on nice coats walking in. He followed them, mimicking their movements in order to enter undetected.

_Where's all my souls sisters  
>Let me hear ya'll flow sisters<em>

On stage was an extravagant display of can-can dancers on lacy corsets and ruffled skirts dance to the disco tune.

_Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, flow sister  
>Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, flow sister<em>

Laughter erupted everywhere and was overlapped with applauses and cheers. The audiences were mostly men, some even decades older than his father. He even swore saw a man whose hair was white as snow. He looked up and saw boxes around the hall, like the ones in opera houses.

He just realized that the song was a different rendition of Lady Marmalade, remixed to fit the party goers' mood.

_Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya da da  
>Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya here<br>Mocha Chocolata ya ya  
>Creole Lady Marmalarde<em>

_Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir  
>Voulez vous coucher avec moi<em>

Not much noticing how he had walked through the crowd and end up wandering right in the middle of what seemed to be a dance hall, he continued to survey the place, picking up the applicable mood from the hundred men lost in happiness.

_Creole Lady Marmalarde!_

The can-can number finished in a shut of blinding light that died down into total darkness.

Descending on a swing at the heart of the hall was a girl, her both hands on each rope holding the swing up. Her creamy slender legs were crossed and left bare by the gem studded halter leotard she wore. A black Victorian hat cast a shadow over her milk white face, hidding most of it while her thick lashes hooding her eyes from view.

Down bellow, men looked up salivating over all of her. He found him in the same state as well although in a much minimal rate.

"_The French are glad to die…for love_" She started to sing as she slightly raised her face, allowing the audience a glimpse of her pretty face and her tantalizing set of violet eyes. The gems on her dress sparkled in the spotlight.

And then the crowd was in an incurable range as the swing in which she sat circularly swung down. Like mad men reaching an unreachable star, they extended their arms towards her. The beat of the music came faster and merrier as she continued to entertain the crowd bellow.

"_A kiss on the hand may be, quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend!_" Her singing was filling his soul with desire he cannot explain.

"_A kiss may be grand but it, won't pay the rental on your humble flat or help you feed your pussy cat_." She purred at it and the audience had to exhale as a positive reaction to the sensation she is giving them.

A total head turner, she was. Effortlessly enchanting them like sirens in the middle of the sea.

"_Men grow cold as, girl's grow old and we all lose are charms in the end but square cut or pear shaped these rocks don't lose, their shape_."

An angel in a temptress guise

"_Diamond's are a girl's best friend_!" He wonders how those lips make it feel sinning just by simply looking at it. The rest of the song was lost in her violet gaze.

"Come and get me boys." She said in such a flirtatious tone, everyone was caught in her charisma as if her appearance wasn't enough. His attention was all on her, the same goes with the hundred men presently trying to get a chance to touch even her toe.

"_Diamonds are a girl's…_" She trailed off, raising the anticipation in the air. _"…friend._" She jumped off the swing to be randomly caught by a pair of strong warm arms.

She was unbelievably weightless, almost seemed as if she was on wings.

"Your name, lucky mister?" She asked, making his heart beat hasten its already inhumane rate.

"Ichigo." He managed to utter. A hand ran through his orange locks while a leg slipped off his hold creating a shuddering friction. She slid off his body with ease and extended her arm daintily towards the men in front of her.

"Tonight shall be lady's choice." She announced and twirled back to the man who had caught her. "I choose you." She purred. He was about to nod a yes when his phone rang, the terrible ring tone, he found so, resound through the establishment. It was Nel calling.

She took the phone from his grasp and answered it for him.

"He's busy." She told the person in the other side not much interested who it was. Timely enough, the woman calling was by the entrance.

"Yes. He is busy right now." She said at the pair, allowing the mass around her pave a way through. The performer's eyes enlarged with her sighting in recognition as to who it was that disturbed the party. She dropped the phone and disappear back stage.

"Wait." Ichigo tried to chase after her only to be stopped by Nel.

"Party's over." She told him boldly. He turned towards where the mysterious lady had gone to but miserably failed as he has completely lost sight of her. At the back of his mind, he wonders if he'd ever meet her again.

It was her that he thought of all the way home.

"I guess you've discovered the Moulin Rouge." Nel said to him, noticing his being silent.

Ah. It was the Moulin Rouge.

_Ichigo diaries_

_Day 1: p.s. I think I saw an angel fall from the heaven._

I do hope you enjoy this one. It was fun to write actually. I had to research on how to call that thing cabaret performers wear. let me know what you think of this. I'm kind of getting tired of my other fanfiction stories that I had to write this down to ease the stress.

It does help when you leave a review.

P.S. I am not a racist. I just find it funny to have a manly character such as Ichigo to have the nobody song(search the net) as a phone ring tone.


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